Aquatic Oligochaeta in Italy, with special reference to Naididae

We present a list of Italian freshwater and marine Oligochaeta in the families Lumbriculidae, Haplotaxidae, Tubificidae, Naididae, Propappidae, Criodrilidae, and Lumbricidae, representing 57 genera and 130 species. Published data reflect the incomplete knowledge of the Italian oligochaete fauna, restricted to certain geographical areas. Subterranean aquatic and marine fauna are of particular interest as these have been studied the least. We provide a comprehensive review of the Naididae including, for the first time, southern Italy and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. The distribution of species is discussed and taxonomic problems arising from the morphological variability of Italian material are examined.     

Sialoadhesin, a macrophage sialic acid binding receptor for haemopoietic cells with 17 immunoglobulin-like domains.

Sialoadhesin is a macrophage-restricted adhesion molecule of 185 kDa that mediates sialic acid-dependent binding to cells. It is expressed strongly by macrophages in lymphoid and haemopoietic tissues where it is likely to mediate cell-cell interactions. Here we report the molecular cloning of murine sialoadhesin and show that it is a new member of the immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily with 17 Ig-like domains. COS cells transfected with a cDNA encoding full-length sialoadhesin bound mouse bone marrow cells in a sialic acid-dependent manner. Alternatively spliced cDNAs, predicting soluble forms of sialoadhesin containing the first three or 16 Ig-like domains of sialoadhesin, were expressed in COS cells and the respective proteins purified. When immobilized on plastic, the 16-domain form bound cells in a sialic acid-dependent manner, suggesting that sialoadhesin can function in both secreted and membrane-bound forms. The most similar proteins in the database were CD22, myelin-associated glycoprotein, Schwann cell myelin protein and CD33. Like sialoadhesin, CD22 mediates sialic acid-dependent cell adhesion. The sequence similarity of sialoadhesin to CD22 and related members of the Ig superfamily indicates the existence of a novel family of sialic acid binding proteins involved in cell-cell interactions.     

Gene technology-based antimetabolite design: the use of an in vitro protein expression system to facilitate antimetabolite design for virally-induced human diseases and malignant conditions

A precondition for the chemotherapeutic treatment of a variety of virally-induced human diseases and malignant conditions is a highly selective interaction of the drug molecule to be used with it's biological target. To ensure the development of novel, effective drugs, it is essential that the biological target is well characterised with regard to it's structure and activity. Such characterisation relies upon adequate amounts of pure target being available. One of the most important enzymatic importers for antimetabolites is the enzyme thymidine kinase. In this article an in vitro protein expression system is described which facilitates the production of milligram amounts of pure and biologically active thymidine kinase, from a number of important biological sources. Results have shown that the in vitro produced enzyme has the exact biochemical propeties of the in vivo enzyme. Thus the in vitro protein expression system is an ideal vechicle to facilitate an in depth investigation of the enzyme's biological properties.     

Effects of Sirolimus treatment on patients with β-Thalassemia: Lymphocyte immunophenotype and biological activity of memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells

Inhibitors of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) have been proposed to improve vaccine responses, especially in the elderly. Accordingly, testing mTOR inhibitors (such as Sirolimus) and other geroprotective drugs might be considered a key strategy to improve overall health resilience of aged populations. In this respect, Sirolimus (also known as rapamycin) is of great interest, in consideration of the fact that it is extensively used in routine therapy and in clinical studies for the treatment of several diseases. Recently, Sirolimus has been considered in laboratory and clinical studies aimed to find novel protocols for the therapy of hemoglobinopathies (e.g. β-Thalassemia). The objective of the present study was to analyse the activity of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in β-Thalassemia patients treated with Sirolimus, taking advantages from the availability of cellular samples of the NCT03877809 clinical trial. The approach was to verify IFN-γ releases following stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to stimulatory CEF and CEFTA peptide pools, stimulatory for CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells, respectively. The main results of the present study are that treatment of β-Thalassemia patients with Sirolimus has a positive impact on the biological activity and number of memory CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells releasing IFN-γ following stimulation with antigenic stimuli present in immunological memory. These data are to our knowledge novel and in our opinion of interest, in consideration of the fact that β-Thalassemia patients are considered prone to immune deficiency.     

Polyphosphate kinase is a component of the Escherichia coli RNA degradosome

Xer site-specific recombination functions in the stable inheritance of circular plasmids and bacterial chromosomes. Two related recombinases, XerC and XerD, mediate this recombination, which 'undoes' the potential damage of homologous recombination. Xer recombination on natural plasmid sites is preferentially intramolecular, converting plasmid multimers to monomers. In contrast, recombination at the Escherichia coli recombination site, dif , occurs both intermolecularly and intramolecularly, at least when dif is inserted into a multicopy plasmid. Here the DNA sequence features of a family of core recombination sites in which the XerC- and XerD-binding sites, which are separated by 6 bp, were analysed in order to ascertain what determines whether recombination will be preferentially intramolecular, or will occur both within and between molecules. Sequence changes in either the XerC- or XerD-binding site can alter the recombination outcome. Preferential intramolecular recombination between a pair of recombination sites requires additional accessory DNA sequences and accessory recombination proteins and is correlated with reduced affinities of recombinase binding to recombination core sites, reduced XerC-mediated cleavage in vitro , and an apparent increased overall bending in recombinase–core-site complexes.     

Effects of endurance training on the cardiovascular system and water compartments in elderly subjects

Pickering, Gisèle P., Nicole Fellmann, BéatriceMorio, Patrick Ritz, Aimé Amonchot, Michel Vermorel, and JeanCoudert. Effects of endurance training on the cardiovascularsystem and water compartments in elderly subjects. J. Appl. Physiol. 83(4): 1300-1306, 1997.Theeffects of endurance training on the water compartments and thecardiovascular system were determined in 10 elderly subjects [age62 ± 2 yr, pretraining maximal oxygen consumption(O_{2 max})/kg = 25 ± 2 ml · min¹ · kg¹body wt]. They trained on a cycloergometer 3 times/wk for 16 wk(50-80%O_{2 max},then 80-85%O_{2 max}). They werechecked at 8 wk, 16 wk, and 4 mo after detraining. Training improvedO_{2 max} (+16%) andinduced plasma volume expansion (+11%). No change in total body water,extracellular fluid, interstitial and intracellular fluid volumes,fat-free mass, and body weight was detected in this small sample withtraining. Body fat mass decreased (2.1 ± 2.2 kg).Echocardiography at rest showed increased fractional shortening andejection fraction and decreased left ventricular end-systolic dimension(P < 0.05). Blood volume expansioncorrelates with cardiac contractility and has an impact on cardiacfunction. These improvements are precarious, however, and arecompletely lost after 4 mo of detraining, when elderly subjects losethe constraints and the social stimulation of the imposed protocol.

     

Author index

Using dynamic light scattering we have been able to determine precisely the hydrodynamic radius of l-α-dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) vesicles as a function of temperature. We have detected a sharp, thermally reversible change in the vesicle radius at a phase transition temperature 24°C, corresponding to an approximate 11% increase in surface are. In the range 10–20°C, the change in radius is less than 1%.